What do Suzy Whaley, a top LPGA Teaching and Club Professional and Babe Didrikson Zaharias, perhaps the greatest golfer of all time have in common?

Answer: They were the first two women in history to qualify and participate in a PGA Tour event. In 2002, Whaley landed on the golfing public radar big time when she won the Connecticut PGA Section Championship making her eligible to play in the 2003 PGA Greater Hartford Open.

Although she was cut after the second day, she still shot a respectable 75 and 78 and won the hearts of her home town (Farmington, Conn.) and women golfers - and yes, men - everywhere.

Her accomplishment was major, but the awareness of women's golf she brought to the game was huge: the resulting benefit to charities earned her a rare Special Recognition Award from the Connecticut State Golf Association.

She played on the LPGA Tour in the early 1990s but has no plans to go back. Still her golf plate is very full. A class A LPGA Teaching and Club Professional at the TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut, Whaley not only teaches and is active in Play Golf America, but is the National Spokesperson for the American Express Women's Golf Month.

Her teaching accolades include being named number 5 on Golf Digest's "Best Women Teachers in America." She was nominated for GOLF Magazine's top 100-teacher list is a LPGA Northeast Teacher of the Year and is a two-time PGA Teacher of the Year honoree in the Connecticut PGA Section.

Suzy continues to work with pros and management to show them how better to promote women's golf. "They are beginning to understand that this is a huge market for them and making women feel more welcome once they arrive is important. The golf experience has to be easy, not hard work," she says.

"When we tap the women's market better than we have in the past, we will be growing the game from the grassroots level - from parents to children to their children. And we need to do a better job to keep the women we already have. Think about it. Time constraints has always been a problem but golf doesn't have to be an 18 hole sport. If they (women) have just 45 minutes, they should be able to still come out and enjoy it."

Passionate about golf, Whaley says, "I am working on many different levels to get as many people playing the game as I can, to show them you do not have to be great at the sport to enjoy it," she says. "It's the one place you can go outside in a healthy environment and be with your family and play.

"Many women are looking for activities where they can incorporate goals like family time, exercise and sociability along with reinforcing values like honesty and etiquette. I think you get all these in golf."

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